Uninhabited Planet Survive Review

By vivafruit Published: December 30, 2004

STORY

4 / 10

The storyline is undeniably the weakest part of Uninhabited Planet Survive, and is the main contributing factor for why the show never quite seems to break mediocrity. There were numerous points at which the anime looked like it was improving, but the formulaic and predictable plot would always kick in and prevent this from actually happening.

One of the major problems lies with the basic premise. At its heart, there are really only two major ways to execute a shipwrecked-on-random-piece-of-rock storyline like this one: a Lord of the Flies styled, utterly misanthropic depression-fest, or an illogical, unrealistic Swiss Family Robinson rip-off that recycles the same basic plot that has been used countless times before. Uninhabited Planet Survive goes with the latter route, throwing just about every hackneyed element of the archetype in save for the monkey butlers.

At its best, the plot would have taken a backseat and merely watched the excellent characters interact with each other. An unobtrusive storyline could have allowed for some truly outstanding character drama, and might have caused the series to sneak into my personal favorites list. Indeed, the story is at its best when it does exactly this. Occasionally, the characters are given a relatively simple problem (for example, starting a fire), and the audience is made to watch as they carry out a solution. During these relatively scarce moments, the characters are truly allowed to shine, and the show becomes immensely entertaining.

Unfortunately, for the most part Uninhabited Planet Survive rejects this approach and forces a dull, contrived and utterly boring plot upon its viewers. The situation is made even worse by a truly tedious science fiction twist that serves to take even more focus away from the true highlight of the show.

Admittedly, there is an exceptional arc midway through the series that involves escaped prisoners; for this stretch of episodes, I was actually actively interested in what was going on, and often could not guess what was going to happen next. However, for the rest of the anime, the story fails to be anything but dull, predictable and obtrusive.

ANIMATION

5.5 / 10

There is nothing wrong about the animation in Uninhabited Planet Survival, but this doesn't necessarily mean that there is anything right, either. Character designs and backgrounds are decidedly mediocre, and are forgotten almost immediately after seeing them. A few scattered action scenes occur throughout the series, with a relatively consistent rate of quality each time. As a whole, there really isn't much to say about the visual package, other than that it does little to either help or hurt the series.

SOUND

6 / 10

Remaining consistent with the anime's generally low budget, the 52 episode series only gets one set of music for the entire series. Fortunately, the OST is good enough to stand up to repeated listens, and never bothered me throughout the show. I didn't end up listening to the opening and ending themes all that much, but they're by no means bad. Voice acting is consistently solid for the entire show, with no noticeable flaws.

CHARACTERS

8.5 / 10

Without a doubt, the characters are the strongest part of the anime. Most animes nowadays cheat a little by sacrificing depth in order to make their characters instantly appealing. This anime, on the other hand, develops its characters the hard way. By the beginning of the show, none of the seven children that crash-land on the island start out as anything really impressive. At the end, however, every single one has become likeable, if not absolutely loveable. If Uninhabited Planet Survive had focused on them instead of its lackluster storyline, then the show could have been outstanding. However, as is the characters do an admirable job of keeping the show from being absolutely horrible.

OVERALL

5.5 / 10

To be honest, I really wanted to enjoy this, and countless times while I was plodding through the series I told various people that I was enjoying myself. Unfortunately, I simply can't ignore how many times the anime failed what I refer to as the Crappy Game Test. In a nutshell, this means that as I was watching the show, I would compulsively open up firefox on my other computer and begin to play java games. When the mind-numbing and basically luck-based Bejeweled is more interesting than the anime I'm watching, this is a very bad sign indeed. As a whole, the show isn't close to what I would consider bad, but still falls a bit short of being actively entertaining. The storyline is rather tedious for too much of the running time, and the situation isn't exactly helped by the unremarkable animation and sound. I seem to be in the minority here, but in the end I wouldnt recommend this.